CENTER VALLEY, Pa. — Fresh off their
first Patriot League championship, the Navy Midshipmen were
selected to win the program's second title in the 2011 preseason
poll, released by the Patriot League Wednesday. The preseason poll
is voted on by the League's coaches and women's lacrosse sports
information directors.

Lehigh senior midfielder Lauren Dykstra was selected as the
Preseason Offensive Player of the Year and Holy Cross senior
goalkeeper Amy Martin was voted the Preseason Defensive Player of
the Year.

Navy earned nine first-place votes and 69 points in the poll to
take the top spot. The Mids, coming off a 17-4 campaign, return a
deep roster with five all-league veterans. Junior Danielle
Vivonetto is Navy's leading returning scorer, who scored 62 goals
to finish third in the Patriot League. She will look to replace
2010 Offensive Player of the Year and Patriot League Tournament MVP
Erin Rawlick, who led the League with 77 goals.

Senior midfielder Katrina Nietsch, who scored 31 goals returns
for her senior year after earning All-Patriot League Second Team
accolades in each of her first three seasons at Navy. Navy also
returns senior attack Caitlin Mandrin Hill, who earned All-Patriot
League First Team honors in 2009 and set career highs in goals (33)
and points (68) in 2010.

Lehigh, which had four first-place votes, was selected to finish
second with 63 points. The Mountain Hawks, who fell in the
championship game last season to Navy, finished 14-4 last season
and earned the No. 1 seed in the Patriot League Tournament. Lehigh
returns all six of its All-Patriot League players from last season,
including Dykstra. First-Team All-League members Kelly Draper,
Leigh Ann Torcivia and Allison Thomas return, along with
Second-Team All-League members Julie McBrien and Kenzie
Dambach.

Colgate also had a first-place vote and finished third in the
poll with 53 points. The Raiders finished third in the League last
season with a 4-2 record (9-8 overall). They return two of the
League's top 10 scorers in Colleen Bubnack (36 goals, 20 assists)
and Courtney Miller (36 goals, 11 assists).

American (37) edged out Holy Cross (36) for fourth place and
Lafayette (23) and Bucknell (13) rounded out the poll.

American finished in fifth place last season behind Holy Cross
as both tied for a 3-3 League record. The Eagles welcome in a new
coach for 2011, former player Laura Campbell, who led the Eagles to
the Patriot League Championship as a senior in 2003. She will take
over a squad that returns two Second-Team All-League performers in
Amanda Makoid (32 goals, nine assists) and Emily Stankiewicz (20
goals, six assists).

Holy Cross will be led by seniors Annie Boylan, Meg O'Leary and
Martin. The Crusaders have eight of 12 starters back from last
season, including three who earned 2010 All-Patriot League honors.
Holy Cross also returns 19 overall letterwinners and adds nine
freshmen. O'Leary and Martin were both First-Team All-League
selections last season. O'Leary was fifth in the League in caused
turnovers per game with 1.24 and Martin led the League in save
percentage (.412).

The Leopards, after a 3-14 campaign in 2010, will look to
improve with a large cast of underclassmen. Included in that group
is last year's Patriot League Rookie of the Year Addie Godfrey, who
scored 38 goals to finish fourth in the League. She will be joined
on offense by senior Lauren Brown, who scored 20 goals. The
Leopards return seven starters, but they lose a key cog in
goalkeeper Emily Bjork, who averaged 9.24 saves per game. The
Leopards have 11 freshmen on the roster and several will get the
chance to contribute in 2011.

The Bison will be very young in 2011 after going 2-15 overall
and 0-6 in League last season. With 14 of 20 students-athletes
being freshmen, the Bison will look to grow and gain experience.
Bucknell does return senior Julia Braun, who was a Second Team
All-Patriot League selection. She scored 37 goals and 10 assists to
lead her team. She also led the team in draw controls with 48.
Goalie Alyssa DeLorenz and defender Ashley St. John also return for
2011. Braun, DeLorenz and St. John are the only players on the team
with more than one year of college experience.

The 2011 season opens Friday with Navy hosting Mount St. Mary's
at 4 p.m. Colgate will open its season at home against Stony Brook
at 1 p.m. Saturday and Bucknell will host St. Bonaventure at noon
Sunday.

American, Holy Cross and Lehigh will all open their seasons next
week, while Lafayette will begin Feb. 23 against Marist.

Two Patriot League women's regular-season games will be
televised on CBS College Sports Network this season, and for the
first time, the women's Patriot League Championship game will be
televised.

Navy will host both regular-season television games, against
Colgate at noon Saturday, April 9, and Lehigh at 3 p.m. Saturday,
April 23. The Patriot League Championship game will be a 3 p.m.
Saturday, April 30.

Preseason Offensive Player of the Year
LAUREN DYKSTRA, LEHIGH Sr., Midfielder, Mendham, N.J.
Lehigh's Lauren Dykstra was the 2010 Defensive Player of the Year,
becoming the first student-athlete in League history to win Rookie,
Offensive and Defensive Player of the Year during her career. With
the addition of the Midfielder of the Year award, she could make it
four different major awards in four years.

Dykstra started all 18 of Lehigh's games in 2010 while leading
the team and finishing third in the League with 54 goals. She
entered the season as the preseason Offensive Player of the Year,
but in several games during the season she was charged with
shadowing one of her opponents' best offensive threats.

She finished second on the Mountain Hawks in caused turnovers
(16) and ground balls (47) while helping her team complete 87.4
percent of its clears. She led the Mountain Hawks to an 8-0 start,
which matched the program record for best opening, en route to a
14-4 overall record, a 5-1 mark in the League and the top seed in
the tournament.

For her career, Dykstra has scored 185 goals and 31 assists in
52 games. She is a three-time All-Patriot League selection and is
looking to become the 11th women's lacrosse player and first from
Lehigh to become a four-time All-League selection.

Preseason Defensive Player of the Year
AMY MARTIN, HOLY CROSS Sr., Goalie, Bloomfield, Mich.
Amy Martin, the 2010 Goalkeeper of the Year, enters the 2011
season ranked fourth all-time at Holy Cross with 489 career saves,
fourth with 16 career wins, sixth with a .461 career save
percentage and seventh with a 12.18 goals against average. She also
enters the season fourth in the nation by current players in career
minutes played with 2,813:19 and is fourth in career saves.

Martin led the League in save percentage (.503) while finishing
second with 10.75 saves per games and third with a goals-against
average of 10.98. During League play, she led all goaltenders in
the three major categories. She was the only netminder to finish
with a goals-against average under 10 (9.69) and a save percentage
above .500 (.537), while she was one of two goaltenders (along with
Lafayette's Emily Bjork) to average double-digit saves per game
(11.00). Martin and Colgate's Christina Roa were both named
First-Team All-Patriot League. Martin is the second goalkeeper from
Holy Cross to win the award, as Megan Orr won it three straight
years from 2005-07.